All about Static of the Gods » amp

the twin

Pietro — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:17:45 +0000

We spent the better part of Saturday on Amp patrol. We dropped off the AC30 at Boston Guitar Works to get it looked at and to get a new reverb tank installed. They’re the place to go if you need a boutique amp and have some amazing gear. After spending a some time perusing and drooling over their amps, we decided to head back into town to make the Fender Twin acquisition.

We’ve used various Fenders in the past, but this is by far the nicest sounding one I’ve heard. It has the perfect Fender sound – and its reverb is just beautiful. Once in the van, we made a beeline back to your recording space to give it a full run through at full volume.

Besides it being a damn loud amp, it sounds “just right”. Just plug in and play – not much else is needed. After spending a lot of time struggling, and not succeeding in getting the right sound for a few of our songs, this amp got us there in a few minutes.

One of the many good things about the Rick that Ben is playing, is the way it feeds back. That’s also why he’s standing so close while he’s playing (i’m sure his ears will thank him later). Once it’s starts to feedback, you get an amazing lush wall of sound which fills up space so nicely.

Now, if we only had an AB/Y switch that was quite so we could get both channels pumping at once. We actually have 2, but they are way too noisy for your liking. The Divided by 13 Switchazel looks real nice, but it’s also $275.00 – i think it’s going to have to wait.

Once we get the AC30 back (hopefully later in the week), these two amps will be singing together proudly.

Now the “30 day” clock is ticking…

the tank is empty

Pietro — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:53:21 +0000

So we finally got around to taking a look at the reverb tank in the AC30 (that’s the thing that make’s all the cool, dreamy sounds). Sure enough, the thing is all sorts of broke.

There is supposed to be 3 springs stretched from one end of the tank to the other, but none (which is what we have) is decidedly less than the aforementioned 3. I’ve read reports of other AC30 owners having similar issues, so it seems that the stock reverb tank is pretty cheap.

I spent awhile today trying to track a new one down, but I didn’t have much luck – at least not if i wanted one sooner than “a few weeks” anyway. I think our best bet now is to bring it in the Mr. Amp Dr. and she if they can get it fixed sooner.

In the end, the amp needs to get looked at anyway, so I now is as good a time as any. That Fender Twin we’ve been looking at may need to be aquired sooner rather than later to take the AC30’s place.

You’re really cr[amp]ing my style

Pietro — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:34:07 +0000

Well, the vox doesn’t seem to be any happier today than yesterday. It’s still not sounding right, and to add insult to injuiry, the reverb just just decided to stop working. Loosing the reverb in and of itself isn’t a game changer since we use a Holy Grail for most reverb duties, but it does point to there being something not good happening somewhere deep inside it’s mysterious innards.

As far as we can tell, the tubes look good, but I’m thinking that replacing and upgrading them anyway isn’t such a bad idea. The tubes would not account for the reverb crapping out, but it would be one less thing to worry about.

On a side note, who the hell designed the layout of the newer AC30’s. I highly doubt that it’s a similar design to was used during the classical vox years, becuase they make it pretty damn difficult just to get at the tubes. I’m no amp designer, but c’mon – you can do better than that!